A different Lori Grimes
by Hermionechan90
Summary: I have been wondering how the story would have turned out if Lori Grimes was not just a housewife that made one bad decision after the other but actually had a bit more common sense and courage. OC!Lori
1. Chapter 1

**This is a bit of a prompt… so feel free to continue this chapter however you like, I'm not sure if I want to do it myself. I will have to see if my muse sends me more impulses.**

**Chapter 1**

_After the door fell shut and the car started Lori turned around and hurled the just washed off coffee mug against the white wall across from her. With a crack it shattered into a million pieces and spread over the kitchen floor. Lori leaned back against the sink trying to regain some of her equilibrium, why the hell did Rick always have to try to reason everything out? Why, why, why? Feeling tired all of sudden Lori's shoulders slumped and the invisible hand around her heart pressed down. Dryly she swallowed before she moved over to the cupboard to take out the broom to clean up the mess she had made.  
Thinking back on the most recent fight Lori felt even worse, it wasn't even like Rick was the only one at fault there but he should know better than contradict her when she told Carl no. His math tests had been getting worse and worse in the last few weeks and he needed to realize the consequences of not studying for school. Lori knew that the game this weekend was pretty important for their home team but damn it, Carl needed to learn to face the consequences of his actions. Their son had started to test his limits throughout the last months and was ruthlessly exploiting every weak moment of both her and Rick. So it was really not a good time to let him bend the rules in the ways he wanted. But no, Rick had to give in after measly five minutes of their son begging. It wasn't him that had to deal with the consequences of Carl's rebellious phase after all; it was her that had to deal with it every single day while Rick was at work. Frustrated Lori walked into the laundry room and started to pick the clothes together for the next load. _

_Housewife, she thought bitterly. Who would have thought that she would become a housewife right out of high school? She had had so much expectations from her life after graduation and even more than a hand full of decent universities to choose from when she graduated as second best of their year. Well and then the condom burst and they conceived Carl. Sighing once more Lori felt guilty, she loved her son, she really did and she didn't regret having him but his conception had been badly time and now here she was. Nearly thirty, never having worked a day in her life with a son that was starting his teens and a husband that was becoming more and more distant from her with each day.  
Finishing with her housework Lori sighed and found the newspaper, it was time to search for something that occupied her time other than the damn cleaning. Her aggressive mood was after all not only Rick's and Carl's fault. Lori was going stir crazy with the monotone motions of her daily routine and really wanted something that would challenge her mind. _

Lori came out of her light nap against the car window, her mouth was dry and her body was sticking uncomfortably from the half dried sweat that had been running down her body since the early morning hours. The sun was beating down on Shane's jeep and even the slightly cracked open windows didn't help to alleviate the humid heat. Thinking back on her dream Lori smiled sardonically, hadn't she wished to escape her daily routine? Well a change was it alright but it felt like something more out of a horror movie than a distraction of her daily life.

The brown haired woman sighed while her thoughts went back to the last three weeks. It all began when Rick had been shot… at that time she had thought it couldn't get worse. Her husband was in a coma, the bank had come knocking because of the still open mortgage, the additional hospital bills had started piling on her kitchen table and Carl had been inconsolable about his father's state.  
And then the strange news reports and broadcasts had begun and Lori had become unexplainably nervous. Her gut had clenched whenever she heard of another of these strange occurrences and she had tracked the movement of the sightings all over the country. When the unexplainable bad feeling had become too much for her to deal with she had even told Shane about it. Rick's partner and one of their best friends had tried to alleviate her fears but she had felt a storm coming at them and nothing Shane had said could calm her down.

When the news about blockages turned up Lori had started to hoard cans and non perishables and had given Carl strict instructions about curfew and strange happenings. Her boy was told to come home straight away if anything and she meant ANYTHING was looking fishy to him. She had reassured him that she would deal with the fallout if it was a false alarm but her instincts were going haywire and if there was one thing Lori had learned during her thirty years of life than to trust her gut feeling.

When she was thirteen this feeling had saved her and her two girlfriends from a pedophile rapist that had waited in front of their school and was handing out flyers for dancing lessons. Lori had taken one look at the stranger and outright dragged her friends away from the seemingly nice man before telling her parents about what had happened. The police had thankfully caught him in time before he could entice one of their classmates to go with him but since then Lori had listened whenever her body told her that something was not right.

And unfortunately she was right. The day one of Carl's classmates had come into the school room with a very high fever and had promptly been sent to the school nurse Carl had packed his things after the first hour and rushed home. It had probably saved his life. Only half an hour after Carl had returned Shane had burst into their house and told them to pack while he got Rick, and then it had only gotten worse.

Turning her head to check on Carl her eyes fell on the pile of bags and boxes beside him, the sight made Lori smile ironically. She was good at handling pressure, hell she was working a lot more efficient under pressure than when she had all the time in the world; the adrenaline helped her to make fast and thorough decisions. As it turned out calculating the odds and triaging what had to be done was one of her greatest talents and that had been hidden until the day the dead had started to walk again. Since this whole mess began Lori's brain was constantly recalculating everything around her and her mind came up with plans and back up plans to secure their continued survival. Questions like what would they need, what would they do, what, what, what were now occupying her daily routine instead of driving Carl to football practice or making dinner.

Sighing Lori stretched her hands a bit, Shane in the driver seat sent her a quick glance and a tight smile, the brunette answered in kind and then concentrated back onto the street and the glimmering heat in front of them while her thoughts started to fly once more.

When Shane had told her to pack because they were going to Atlanta to the refugee center Lori had become grim with determination. She had told Carl to run into the pantry and move the boxes full of cans she had bought the day before to the front door. Bewildered her son had done what she had wanted while Lori packed in a hurry three bags for her, Carl and Rick before moving onto toiletries and the medicine cupboard where she just threw everything into the open bag without taking a look at the prescription bottles. She then barked at Carl to get the camping gear from the garage. It was ironic, Rick had promised to take Carl camping that summer and so in preparations the Grimes had stocked up on tents, sleeping bags and cooking gear only a month ago, well this was now coming in handy. Shoes, blankets and rain gear was the next on Lori's mental list and she threw said things into the still empty sport bag of Rick before she started to move out the mineral water bottles and stacked everything on the front lawn. A quick glance around the neighborhood showed that she wasn't the only one moving around hastily, across from her she saw Susan Miller move her three kids into the car. The blonde woman nodded grimly at her, a silent goodbye that Lori answered with one of her own, this was going to be bad they both knew it. Turing around to run into the house once more Lori was confronted with the Grimes family picture. Choked up she moved to the living room cupboard and removed the photo albums and loose pictures and hastily crammed them into the bags between the clothes. Carl in the mean time came running with the camping gear; Lori joined him and moved the portable cooker to the front lawn. Once that was done she told her son to get up into his room and get his plush elephant and favorite soccer ball and to pack his backpack full with card games and some pencil and paper. Lori herself went into the master bedroom and removed Rick's backup weapons and ammunition from the locked box underneath their bed before moving them into her own backpack along with two books, her mobile charger and some flashlights with backup batteries.

When Shane returned she was just hauling out the last of the food in the fridge while Carl sat on the front porch and watched the happenings on the street nervously, things had already begun to turn into chaos. When screams started to echo from only a few streets over her boy had shuddered and looked beyond terrified but Lori had no time to take him into her arms, she was too busy checking that she had everything they would need.

Shane's jeep had let her sigh in relief and hope against all odds that everything would turn out fine. This was nearly instantly crushed and a sinking feeling was settling in her stomach when she couldn't find Rick's figure in Shane's car. Lori had asked after Rick anyway, the way Shane had shaken his head while he couldn't meet her eyes had been answer enough.

It had hit Lori in that moment like a ton of bricks, she was a widow. Rick, her husband was dead.

Swallowing dryly she moved numbly to the car, Carl beside her was whimpering, unable to express his distress and devastation. The only thing she could do in this pre-apocalyptic chaos was to hold onto her son with a nearly painful grip while Shane loaded up the Jeep.

While Shane was occupied, Lori who was unable to keep still and after securing Carl in the back of the Jeep the brunette walked into the house once more. This building had been her home for the last ten years and she had a sinking feeling that she would not return to it for a very long time. Hesitating in front of the entrance hall mirror Lori hastily tore off a note from the post it block on the small table and wrote on it 'GOING TO ATLANTA WITH SHANE'. She stuck it to the mirror and afixed it with an additional piece of adhesive tape that stood innocently beside the small handmade pot filled with pencils. She wasn't sure why she had the sudden impulse to leave behind a message, or for what purpose but it felt important to memorialize what had happened to the people that had lived in this house. To leave something behind that would give whoever walked into it after them an idea of what were their last actions should they never return. Lori's stomach twisted uncomfortable as she looked at the small piece of paper, this small act of hers made what was happening frightening real and she feared that time was running out for them faster than she realized.

Biting her lip strong enough to draw blood Lori left the house behind without another glance. She didn't bother with closing the front door; she had a feeling that it wasn't important anymore.

From now on it would be survival of the fittest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It took them four days to arrive at the outskirts of Atlanta. The streets and highways on the way were chaotic at best and downright not traversable at worst.

During that trip the smell was the worst part in Lori's opinion. The pungent, sweet smell of decay that was waving around their car that only moved at walking speed through the more often than not clogged rural streets and it was nearly impossible to escape it. Only when the wind changed or Shane accelerated the car a bit there was a short reprieve before the smell hit them again. The smell caused Lori's stomach to roil and she felt nearly constantly sick and unable to eat anything, to counter that she kept to soft drinks during the day and drank calming teas in the evening. On the third day her stomach settled finally and she joined her son and Shane at lunch.

At times the whole situation was too surreal for Lori, she felt as if she had been thrust into a third rate zombie movie and sometimes she was nearly overwhelmed by the desperate urge to search for the hidden camera that was filming this farce. Especially when they passed small villages or settlements and everything was deathly quiet but for the slow shuffling noises the dead made while they stumbled through the streets.

Lori tried to shield Carl from that sight as best as she could, adaptable child or not, he would have probably been traumatized for life if she hadn't protected him from the sight of this carnage in the beginning, she herself had thrown up more than once at the macabre view. Shane was faring a bit better than her, he at least had seen a murder victim or two during his career but Lori could tell that the whole situation was getting to him as well, not that she blamed him.  
The ditch on both sides of the road was more often than not littered with upturned cars and burned out vehicles. Additionally to that they could see the half decaying bodies feeding on dead bodies inside the cars or moving slowly in the fields like abominable scarecrows.

Carl was… quiet. After the second day when they had been surprised by a group of undead and Carl had gotten a close up on their bodies Lori had given up on trying to keep him away from what was happening, he had to understand how dangerous the undead were in this Apocalypse. It may sound horribly callous from her but Lori preferred her son alive and disillusioned over naïve and quite possible dead. Because an Apocalypse it was, of that Lori was sure. The brunette housewife also doubted that the government would get a handle on this. It was too wide spread and it happened EVERYWHERE they were passing through, the continent if not the whole world was affected. Whatever it was that caused the dead to reanimate, it would probably have to run its course before something like normalcy could start again.

Lori's only real concern until then was how they would survive and how to avoid the masses of undead bodies.

Through all this chaos Shane continued to be dependable and strong, even with his own world view shattered he kept his calm. Lori was more than thankful for the support, on some days the situation they were in was nearly too much for her to handle. Lori wasn't sure what she would have done if she had been alone with Carl. How do you handle traumatized children that were not only grieving for a parent but also aware that the world as they knew it was ending around them? Carl's had been crying quietly in the back of the car during the first part of their journey, his half choked sobs kept distracting her from what was happening outside of the car. Lori couldn't describe the utter relief she felt about the fact that her husband's partner didn't lose his temper or concentration even once. Instead Shane navigated them carefully through all the burned out obstacles and the moving dead on the streets, kept watch during the short and harried bathroom breaks and found them places to sleep in the evenings.

While all this was happening Lori didn't give herself a chance to grieve for her husband; she knew if she started to deal with her loss she would be distracted from surviving, instead she kept busy and tried to not think about Rick. Yes, their marriage had been in a crisis before he had been shot but she still loved him. This was the man that had been her first in everything and had given her a son; they had lived together for ten plus years and had made countless happy memories together. When Rick had walked away from their fight that morning Lori had not anticipated that he wouldn't come home anymore.

She had never thought that things would go so wrong in a span of a month.

XXXXXXXX

They were waiting on the clogged highway that led directly into the center of Atlanta when they saw it.

The three survivors from King County had gotten out of the Jeep to escape the stiffening heat inside the car and the restless feeling that surrounded all three of them for days now. Carl had looked curious at the long line of cars in front of them when a loud boom had let all of them flinch.

The city of Atlanta was being napalmed.

They could see the explosions and flames that ate themselves through streets and buildings from the highway that led into the city. Carl whimpered in her arms while she had turned his head away from the scene and pressed her hands on his ears, he was just eleven years old for god sake! Too young, too young, too young, her brain screamed while she desperately tried to think of a way to distract him.

Beside her Shane looked frustrated, tired and strangely resigned but he refrained from saying anything and only motioned back at the car. Lori just nodded in return; they would have to find a road that led away from the highway because getting trapped her would be a death sentence. But before she could climb into the passenger side, Lori's eyes fell onto the RV that had just pulled up behind them. Shane who needed the space to turn the Jeep around quickly walked over to the older man that had just left the RV and looked horrified at the scene on the horizon. Out of the small windows of the RV Lori could see two blonde women watching the burning city just as shocked as she was feeling.  
Shane quickly jogged over to the silver haired male and seemed to explain what had happened and that he wanted to turn the car around. Lori couldn't hear the conversation but to be honest she was more concerned with the trembling Carl in her arms at the moment, it had been a trying last few days with a lot of emotional turmoil. Thanks to the few safe moments and even less sleep, the eleven year old was exhausted and Lori herself was at the near end of her capacity but she was forcing herself to not lose hope, she HAD to be strong, her son needed her.

"It's going to be fine baby." she soothed her eleven year old.

"You don't know that. What if those things come after us?" Carl asked in a small voice.

"Carl I know what is happening is really a horrible but I promise you, we are going to be fine. Somehow we will make it and if the government doesn't get this under control we will find a way to survive. You know Shane; he wouldn't let anything happen to you. You are his godson, and neither will I." Lori said with as much calm as she could muster while she kissed him on his head.

Carl may have inherited Rick's body type and temperament but he had her eye and hair color as well as her face structure. It hadn't been hard to fall in love with the little boy the moment she had first held him in her arms. Lori would compromise, fight and yes, even kill to make sure that he survived this chaos.

The old man that was driving the RV seemed to have come to an understanding with Shane because he nodded before he gestured in the direction of the hill on their left hand side. Shane's vis-à-vis fished out a map that he had had in his breast pocket and he showed Shane something on it. Whatever the man had pointed out to Shane it was clearly something that the deputy sheriff liked it because he smiled tentatively and nodded before coming back to the Jeep. Her husband's partner smiled reassuringly before he opened the car door for Carl to climb in the back.

After everybody was buckled in Lori finally asked, "What's going on?"

"That was Dale Horvath; he knows the area and showed me an old camping place by the quarry up in those hills." Shane answered while he pointed in the direction of said hills, "I think it's the safest to stay away from the populated streets as long as we aren't sure what's happening."

Lori just nodded and sent him a tight smile, playing it safe was probably for the best right now but she knew that they would not be able to continue like this. Finding gas stations that worked had been a nightmare and Shane had to siphon gas from more than a few abandoned cars on the side of the street to keep his Jeep running on their journey. It worried her immensely; their dependence on gas was going to be a nightmare in the next months.

Trying to relax and get at least a few minutes of rest Lori leaned her head against the window and looked into the side mirror. The surface showed her that a long line of other cars were following behind them, and quite a few followed them when they left the highway. Lori couldn't make her mind up if that was a good or a bad thing, biting her lip she told herself to relax, she would find out soon enough.


	3. Chapter 3

**So question – do you want asshole!Merle or asshole but still decent!Merle? You have time until the end of January to decide. The poll is on my account.**

**Chapter 3**

The drive to the quarry was maybe an hour long and when they arrived on the camping place the sun was already going down. From the traffic snarl only seven cars had followed them up to the quarry. Those people that now got out of the cars were all tired looking and had slightly lost expressions on their faces. Lori herself felt exhausted and could feel a headache building, the fresh and cooling air was helping but she really needed some good sleep after those last few days. Beside her Carl didn't look much better, her son was close to falling asleep where he was standing. Shane was leaning behind them against his Jeep, his shirt was soaked through with sweat and the beard that had begun to grow in the last few days made him look gruff and he looked like nothing she was used to from Officer Walsh. The former Sheriff Deputy had his eyes closed, while his shoulders relaxed a bit and Lori noticed the deep bags under his eyes that didn't stick so out during the day. Their group of three desperately needed a break; hopefully things would be looking up now.

Coming out of her musings Lori looked around again, the conversations were all at a whisper level and the sounds of the forest easily drowned out the human ones. Lori wasn't sure why exactly this caught her attention but it made her feel uncomfortable. Humanity hadn't been afraid of the dark woods for a long, long time after all.

When one of the, what looked like college students started to pitch up his tent, the others took this as a sign to do the same and suddenly there was chaos everywhere in the clearing, though the noise was barely increasing and Lori was still on edge. With the other people pitching up their tents for the night she followed the general consensus and walked back to the Jeep to get the package with the tent meant for her and Carl. Shane was once again sitting in the Jeep, though this time his feet were dangling out of the open door and he watched lazily the going ons around him. The brunette could just barely muster up a small smile for the man that had been emotionally supporting them for the last month and now protected them from the undead. Lori felt a bit ashamed of herself for depending so much on her husband's best friend, Shane really deserved a break.

In the next moment Lori was ripped out of her musings by a rude comment that echoed over the clearing.

"Fuckin' city people, no idea what the hell they are doing."

A glance at Shane let her know that he was tired and really annoyed; he clearly didn't want to deal with whatever dispute was coming up right now. Neither did she but Lori was also aware that she had a better chance to dissolve the situation without any violence, the whole group of strangers was tense enough as it was.  
So with a quick hand to his shoulder she pressed Shane back into the car seat when she passed him with the tent bag over her shoulder; she hoped he would understand her silent request to not jump the gun yet. Shane could be a real asshole when sleep deprived and she REALLY didn't want to deal with a fight.

One glance through the crowd let Lori zoom in on the redneck that was sitting a bit apart of the group. Behind him were two pitched up tents and right now he was tending to a small fire in front of him.

His deep and gruff voice had been audible over all the other conversations when he snorted and shook his head in distaste. Lori could only roll her eyes inwardly at this behavior, they had been there for less than fifteen minutes and the idiot was already alienating the majority of the people in the clearing. Lori was torn between amusement, tiredness and anger. She really wasn't feeling up to witnessing a fight between the redneck and whoever lost their temper first; which hopefully wouldn't be Shane. She knew that if she wanted this whole altercation to end bloodless and with no hard feelings that could be a problem later on she would have to diffuse the argument in a sneaky way. So Lori held back that sarcastic comment that sat on the tip of her tongue. Why, oh why did they have to have rednecks in this group?

Instead she asked in a calm and careful controlled voice, "What would you suggest they do?"

Throwing accusations and disdain at the redneck wouldn't help; he would probably only get defensive or even violent and they REALLY didn't need this, not after such a day. Furthermore she had no idea if that hillbilly was going to be useful in the near future. They didn't have to become best friends but Lori had to admit that in an apocalyptic world like this a redneck in their group could make the difference between life and death, though for that she would to actually have to have some conversations first and test his reactions… play it cool Lori, just like that time when you sounded out the best summer camp for Carl, she reminded herself.

After finishing her question she opened the package of her and Carl's tent, Shane had thankfully brought his own and they wouldn't have to share. Friend or not Shane was a heavy snorer and she could do without that right beside her ear, thank you very much.  
Out of the corner of her eye Lori could see said man lazily climbing out of the Jeep while he took in the situation and positioned himself on the edge of the group, good she would have back up should the asshole in front of her try to become violent, not that he was very threatening at the moment, sitting in front of his fire and glowering, now she just had to hope that Shane would let her continue her little game. Walsh was pretty damn smart on a normal day and would recognize her attempts at a conversation for what it was but unfortunately Shane also belonged to the sort of males that fancied themselves ladies men, the oversized macho that he was, the last part was thought fondly, okay so Lori had to admit that she found his behavior often charming but she didn't want interference right now.

So to the head off a confrontation Lori continued to speak, "I mean you clearly do know what you are talking about, after all you had those tents set up in less than fifteen minutes and already have a fire going…"

She pointed out while her voice kept even, no sarcasm and no taunts she reminded herself. Men always responded well to their ego being stroked, worked every time.

Out of the corner of her eyes Lori could see Shane rolling his eyes in response, the Grimes knew that the former deputy Sheriff normally would have jumped in and taken control but right now she was pretty sure that he was feeling too amused about her outmaneuvering the redneck to interfere, at least she hoped so.

With her attention back on the redneck Lori noticed that the sandy colored man in front of the fire looked confused and mistrustful at her for a moment. Maybe he was checking if she was mocking him before he seemed to come to the conclusion that she wasn't. Finally the man also noticed how the other people around them had stopped what they were doing to watch their interaction. As a result he tensed somewhat before he just pointed over to the place some of the college kids had decided to use.

"The moment it starts to rain the water will run down that path and you stand ankle deep in mud." He mumbled then made a hand motion into Lori's and Carl's direction, "That's too close to the woods. Normally it wouldn't matter but should the geeks come up here you will wanna have a bit more space between them and ya kid." he stated manner of fact.

Lori's eyes widened while her heart made a painful jump, than she nodded in agreement, better be on the cautious side. Inwardly she was congratulating herself that she had kept her temper in check, the redneck had already proven to be a lot more useful than she had thought. If playing nice with him would grant her more sound advice about survival she would do it. After all Carl depended on her!

The people around them shifted in embarrassment and awkwardness, only a few moments ago they had looked like they wanted to tear into the blonde man or dismiss his advice as unimportant. The mood was still a bit uncomfortable; nobody liked to be called out at doing something wrong after all. To stop any resentment against this clearly useful man Lori asked him to give them some more tips of where he thought they should pitch up the tents.

The redneck was at first reluctant before he stood with a small grunt and more than a few annoyed sighs showed them with some hand gestures where to put the tents up. He arranged the group so that the girls and families with kids were in the middle and that there was enough space in every direction to see a Walker coming from the tree line. Additionally he barked at Dale to move his RV to one side of the camp so that it blocked the direct view into the camp from the street.

The redneck's tents were on the outskirts, closest to the woods and looked more like an outpost to the camp than anything else. During that time of setting up Lori noticed another man's silhouette in the second tent that had been pitched. The brunette had to admit that she was curious who that was and why he hadn't joined them outside when he clearly was awake. Squashing her nosiness for now, her attention went back to the visible redneck.

After some last instructions to a family of four he made his way back to his tent to reinforce the fire and probably to start cooking. On the way he passed by two of the young college girls that looked like they wanted to share a tent. It was easy to see that they had no clue at all what to do. Lori watched now quite a bit amused how the dark blonde man let out a resigned sigh and an eyebrow twitch before he snatched the tent parts out of their hands and had the tent up in five minutes flat and without instructions. The girls looked at him wide eyed before they stuttered a thank you after his already leaving back. The other people around them were now clearly unsure what to think of the hillbilly, he wasn't exactly polite but… well he HAD helped them.

Lori on the other hand patted herself on her back once more; it had been a really good idea to not blow him off. He may have not been useful to her before this whole undead debacle but during an apocalypse? He and the other man probably knew a whole lot of simple tricks that would make their lives easier and safer. Also while the blonde had grumbled and complained he HAD helped them without asking for anything in return. This alone made Lori more inclined to trust him in the vicinity of her and her son.

A quick glance around the camping place cleared up Shane's whereabouts, he was putting up his own one man tent somewhat close to Carl's and hers. His movements were slow and a bit clumsy, he really had to be tired. Wordlessly Lori moved closer and held up the canvas of the tent, a quick smile from Shane and they had it up in less than a minute. With slow movements she followed him back to the Jeep to get some of their bags. A quick check back to her own tent alerted her to the fact that Carl was already spreading his things around inside and she had to hurry before the chaos became even worse.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Lori was tired and really thinking about just turning in for the night. To leave everything else for the next day when a mean looking and slightly overweight man started to move the tent that a woman and her daughter had set had set up close to the middle of the camp away from the others. Lori couldn't be sure but by the proximity of the three and the way mother and daughter slightly flinched whenever the man spoke they were probably his wife and daughter… and he an abusive asshole.

Now Lori couldn't be SURE about what was going on, but while the brunette watched the whole situation she had a bad taste in her mouth, the body language alone was pretty telling. She also remembered how she had seen this asshole grab his wife when she had wanted to get out of the car on the highway; at that time Lori had been too upset to recognize the warnings but with hindsight…  
Frowning Lori nudged Shane slightly when she noticed the deputy sheriff coming to a standstill beside her right side and pointed the scene out to him, in hopes that he would interfere. Now Lori wasn't a coward per se, she just was a lot more careful around guys that were bigger and heavier than her; additionally she had a son to think of, though she did feel guilty for sending an already exhausted Shane into that kind of situation. But maybe he could do something about the poor woman's situation. Rick's partner had never had a lot of patience for wife beaters after all. Taking a look around she noticed that she wasn't the only one who had seen the interaction of that family, but nobody else was doing something… Lori felt disgusted and self loathing, yeah that was about right. Even when things had been normal a few months back nobody would have done anything substantial, not even… or especially herself. Because while she had been raised to be a good, nice girl, Lori was well aware of her character faults. She was a self centered bitch; the brunette was quick at raising her voice and releasing her anger. She also had a penchant of verbally attacking where it hurt the most, finding emotional weak points wasn't that hard for her. Lori had also no problem to put those she was close to above anybody else and at times she wasn't beneath using dirty tricks and nasty rumors to get what she wanted… well, it wasn't as if being nice would help her in this darker reality anyway.

Coming out of her retrospective thoughts Lori watched while Shane walked over to the family and took the husband to the side by his arm. By the looks of Shane's tensed arm muscles, it was quite the hard grip. He bodily moved the suspected wife beater a few steps away from his family before whispering something in his ear. Lori couldn't hear what Shane was telling him but in the end the tent stayed were the timid mother-daughter duo had arranged it.

Good, Lori though with grim satisfaction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After all tents were set up Lori reckoned that it was as good a time as any to start networking and so she cleared her throat and asked into the round, "Hey, does anybody of you know how to build a low fire so that we don't attract attention of those things?"

This received more than a few enthusiastic murmurs and smiles.

Asking for help and offering up good ideas would endear her to the others, of that Lori was sure. The brunette Grimes was now more than thankful that she had read all those books about the human nature that her neighbor had recommended. Lori hoped that Sarah had gotten away with her kids, the hobby psychologist from across the street had always been a lot more fun than the other housewives on their street. The two of them had made a habit of analyzing the people that either walked by when they were sitting on Sarah's front porch or in the downtown café they had frequented at least once a week and one memorable kid free afternoon with two pitchers full of Sangria, their deductions had become more and more fantastical with each hour gone by. Lori had even considered signing up for a few physiology courses in evening school after Sarah had given her one particularly interesting book about the human group mentality.

Coming out of her thoughts Lori noticed that Dale and some of the college kids volunteered to build a fire while Shane had returned to the Jeep to unload his bags. Some of the other group members helpfully collected small branches, twigs and dry leaves from around the clearing, it was getting dark at a rapid pace and everybody understood that if they wanted a fire they would have to make it now, nobody wanted to stumble around in the dark to look for fire wood. Predictably the men that had volunteered started to argue about the best way to pile the sticks and flammables up, Lori felt like face palming. At least some of the others brought stones to surround the fire place, that was close to the middle of the camp.

Whatever that group of men were doing it didn't seem to be going to well because the annoyed red neck from before came storming over once more and removed the wood before he started to stack it in a complete other way, Lori had to suppress a snort at the dumbfounded expressions. Carl who had wandered around a bit in the new camp now walked closer and watched fascinated while the blonde man had the wood piled up in record time and was now setting it on fire with the help of his zippo and some dry leaves. Dale and one of the college kids that had lingered around while the blonde worked, watched him slightly miffed. The redneck seemed to take offense to that and opened his mouth most likely to say something rude when Carl sat down beside him and started to ask him some questions concerning the fire, Lori grinned inwardly her son was diffusing the situation without even realizing it. Now normally Lori would have not allowed Carl in the vicinity of a stranger she knew less than half a day, especially a redneck but she was standing only a few feet away surrounded by a group of people that would most certainly take offense to anything bad the redneck would do to Carl.

Dale and the college kid still looked annoyed but kept their mouths shut to watch the interaction between the unlikely pair. While the redneck wasn't what you would call child appropriate he still answered Carl's questions in easy to understand sentences and didn't snap at him outright. Lori relaxed and recalculated once again. The man was not only useful outdoors, but he also seemed to make an effort concerning kids, or at least he wasn't outright hostile to them. The more she saw, the more it became clear to her that while he was rough around the edges and probably socially awkward as hell he had certain standards and apparently a lot of pride… which was not a bad thing in her opinion, with a bit nudging that pride could be manipulated to help the whole group.

The brunette mother tilted her head before her lips twitched, now to test him.

The blonde redneck finished with starting the fire and was on his way to his tent when he was intercepted by Lori who held up a can of beans out as thanks for his help. As a reaction the man just snorted and lightly shoved the can back into Lori's direction and out of his way. Shane who had seen the whole thing but apparently couldn't tell why looked like he wanted to get up where he was sitting and give Daryl a piece of his mind though relaxed when Lori just smiled amused and shook her head. Oh she was definitely right about the pride thing. Men.

After the fire was in full swing Lori raised her voice once more, "I don't know about you but I think we should pool our resources, it looks like some of you didn't pack enough from one thing or the other. I'm sure if we share we can make our supplies last longer."

Agreeing murmurs could be heard all over the camp.

"That would be great. Because the broadcast said that food would be available we didn't pack so much." one of the college kids stated, "I'm Tom Sullivan by the way and these are Marc Miller and Ethan Sanchez, we are from Clayton State University."

"I'm Lori Grimes and this is my son Carl and the partner of my husband, Shane Walsh." Lori introduced herself.

Tom smiled at her and she returned his smile, Lori couldn't be sure in this light but she thought he had brown hair and light colored eyes with some freckles on his nose and a light skin tone. He was a cute kid, he looked like she thought Carl would look some day. His friends Marc and Ethan were slightly darker than him and probably from Hispanic or Cuban background. They had both brown eyes and hair and pearly teeth. All three of them looked like they were into sports and broke the hearts of college girls left and right.

"Oh that's a good idea with the food. We will bring ours too." A bubbly blonde said from Lori's left before she vanished in direction of her car.

A sigh and a small laugh turned Lori completely around, a tall brunette stood behind her, "I'm sorry she is always like this, our little airhead. My name is Ella and the blonde is Cassie. We are also college students but we are from Mercer University."

Lori just smiled as an answer and nodded in Ella's direction before she too turned around to go to their tent and get some cans but mostly the leftovers from the perishable foods. When the brunette returned to the fire somebody had already spread a tarp on the ground and people were stacking their food on it. In no time they had more than enough to feed all of them for the night and the next day.

"Hhm, looks like we have a lot of things that will spoil in the heat without a fridge around, we should probably use that at first." Lori commented absentmindedly after most of the camp was gathered around the fire.

It was just common sense but the brunette knew that voicing such thoughts and comments helped with establishing yourself as sensible and smart person in a group, someone that was listened too and not just followed. Though she shouldn't do it too often or the goodwill could easily turn into annoyance.

Somebody smart had also brought along camping cooking gear and the women around her made fast work at preparing the food before setting the pot with the broth over the fire. A second pot was used to heat up and roast some of the canned vegetables and the last of the fresh carrots somebody had packed. While Lori was preoccupied with organizing them and helping with the preparation of the food, Shane occupied Carl a bit before dinner and then talked to some of the men about security around the camp. Lori was listening with half an ear while Shane agreed to share night watch with Dale and another man, she wasn't very happy about that, Shane had really looked exhausted only a few minutes ago, she could only hope that he would sleep in tomorrow.

A slight smell of meat penetrated the air during the preparation of dinner. One look over to the redneck's fire confirmed Lori's thoughts about him being resourceful; the man had caught two small animals and was now roasting them over the fire.  
When the food of the rest of the camp was ready, most of it some form of vegetable and some left over cold cuts, Lori sent Carl over to the redneck with a plate of vegetables, predominantly beans to not offend his delicate sensibilities, she would bet all her china on the fact that he looked at anything green with suspicion first.

Out of the corner of her eyes Lori watched interested while the older male reluctantly accepted the plate from Carl. Said boy kept standing beside the redneck and watched fascinated at the animals roasting over the fire before he returned to her side. Lori was pretty sure that the rough looking man had only accepted the food because Carl had brought it over. That small weakness for children could probably be also exploited in the near future, though Lori would still keep an eye on their interactions, she was relatively sure that the redneck was NOT a pedophile but… this was her son, better be on the safe side.

When everybody was finished with dinner the group put their plates into two water filled vats to be washed tomorrow. It was quite clear that everybody was exhausted both mentally and physically from the last few days and didn't want to deal with the work or additional conversation. So after eating most of them went to bed relatively quickly. The only exceptions were Dale, Shane and another family father, who were watching over the camp for the night.


End file.
